AX993

Guys,

I have 1 '88 944S with about 100k miles with coolant in the oil. Removed oil cooler and Head and looked at o-rings and gaskets, but can't see anything obvious wrong with them. Problem seemed to have started after the car sat at idle for some time (with A/C running, so both rad. fans on high) on a hot day. Temp needle never got above the 2nd white mark.

Do ya'll think it could be a warped head ? Cracked head? How common are warped or cracked heads on the 2.5 lt 16 valve ?

TIA,
Glenn
Yes I did a search !

krazykarl

I am in the middle of replacing the cylinder head on my S2 due to this crack


The owner of a local 944 shop told me that while it wasn't common on the S2 head, it did have a tendency to happen on regular S heads. Mine was pretty easy to spot once I took the valve cover off as I could see the line and everything was dark green from the coolant. I was never able to find major evidence of coolant in the oil though.

AX993

KrazyKarl,
Thanks for your response and photo. I'll take a closer look at the head around the head bolt holes on mine. I guess because no one else responded it's not real common. We're just lucky I guess !
Glenn

krazykarl

No problem. That crack is between the first and second set of exhaust valves in case you were wondering.

Run into any issues removing the oil cooler? I have to take car of that before I put everything back together.

AX993

No problems removing oil cooler because everything is out of the way . But I have the internal one whereas you are lucky because you have the external air-cooled oil cooler. I did pressure check my internal oil cooler unit in a bucket of water. You only have the one o-ring and housing gasket to worry about, right ?

krazykarl

I have the main gasket and instead of using the two green o-rings on the cooler itself, I use them on a small metal pipe that connects the block and the housing. The heat shield looks to be a struggle as the allens holding it in place aren't very accessible.

Did you remove the power steering pump to get to yours? Or were you able to get to everything from above?

AX993

Hope I'm not the bearer of bad news. Do you have the exhaust headers back on? I had to remove the headers to remove the heat shields even after taking the middle screws out separating the two halves . Because I was also yanking the head, it wasn't a pisser to go ahead and remove the headers first, although I did have to jack the engine up on the exhaust side to clear the exhaust studs. I must have a collapsed engine mount.

krazykarl

Head and headers are still off the car. Got the one half of the shield off but couldn't figure out how to get my allen wrenches around the shield to the bolts holding it in place. Couldn't get the head off without disconnecting the headers either, kept hitting the body.

AX993

Mine were small bolts that I used a 10mm socket and a long extender to remove from under the car if I remember correctly.

BMWM3PORSCHE944

My 87S head was warped. I do not remember the measures on it, but it cost a pretty penny to true up and we ended up using a thicker gasket to compensate.

krazykarl

Mine uses 5mm allens, with one buried around so much stuff it's going to be a pain to get out. I have a stubby 15/16" wrench that will work to remove the sender and the OPRV, but if I have to disconnect the oil lines it's not going to be fun because they are 27mm and 32mm.

AX993

Karl,
I remembered last night (while trying to get to sleep) that I DID have to unbolt the power steering pump from its bracket and tie it out of the way to remove the oil cooler housing. I was able to get to the lower two bolts for the housing, the oil pressure sender and the OPRV that way, all from under the car, but I don't have the oil lines that you do.
Glenn

AX993

BMWM3Porsche944,
Do you remember what the symptoms were, and what do you think caused the head to warp ?
Thanks for your response.

L8_apex

Karl,
I've recently done the oil filter housing reseal on my '89 S2 (where the oil cooler housing goes in earlier models) re-seal. Removed the RF wheel, power steering pump and disconnected and lowered the RS sway bar bracket for access, and just to make a path to pull the housing out. (It then barely could be wiggled out)

You shouldn't have to remove the oil lines from the filter housing part. They are big fittings that can be left alone if not leaking. But it is easy to disconnect the lines from the external oil cooler. There is a single allen head holding a "bracket" of sorts that holds together the flat seal surfaces for both lines at the cooler ports.

Getting the heat shield on that side out IS a pain, and more of one to put back! You might have to work up a "specialized-shortened" allen wrench to squeeze in there. Access is at least possible with a hinged socket head wrench and "wobble" socket extension. Also, don't be inhibited about bending the heat shield a bit to get it out.

krazykarl

I'm almost through with the removal process, but I am currently being thwarted by one of the oil cooler lines. I have the firewall side one off, but I can't get a proper grip on the bumper side one in order to break it loose. I'm taking a break and thinking about not trying to pull the housing out of the car completely as I have it pulled of the block and can replace the main gasket as it is right now. I just have to figure out a good way to grab the connector pipe as it seems to be stuck into the block pretty good by the o-ring.